Kirk, 3 other GOP senators visit Libya

Katherine SkibaTribune reporter

WASHINGTON — After a daylong visit to Libya, Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois had a message for the White House that it hasn’t heard lately from the GOP: “Unquestioned kudos go to the president and his team.”

Kirk praised the Obama administration after spending Thursday inTripoli with three other GOP senators, John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida. They toured the Libyan capital and met with transitional leaders who are running the country after wresting power from dictator Moammar Gadhafi with the help of the U.S. and its NATO allies.

Kirk later spoke to reporters in a conference call from Malta, remarking: “We have all the makings of a very strong U.S. ally now in Libya.”

He painted an largely optimistic picture, but said challenges remain, especially with 28 separate militias in the Libyan capital and the pressing need for unified military command under a unified government.

He said Tripoli was devoid of a single image of the toppled Gadhafi, but was marked by graffiti that was “overwhelmingly anti-Gadhafi.” He reported “utterly unrehearsed appreciation” from bystanders as the delegation’s motorcade made its way around town with “thumbs up and cheers and happiness on the street corners.”

“There’s overwhelming positive public support for what NATO did there,” according to Kirk, who predicted that fighting against forces loyal to Gadhafi probably would persist until late October. “This is a victory for theUnited States military, for our British and French allies, for NATO, for the president of the United States, but most importantly, for the Libyan people.”

Kirk said concerns persisted about the possibility of cross-border raids into Libya staged by Gadhafi loyalists out of neighboring Algeria and Niger.

Kirk, a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve, said a critical need was help for the 60,000 Libyans wounded in the fighting. He raised the prospect that the U.S. could sent the military hospital ship, the USNS Comfort, to “lift the tremendous current casualty strain” on the interim government.

He also urged ending the “no-fly zone” in favor of a “pro-fly zone” to encourage civilian aviation especially between Tripoli and Benghazi, the second largest city, to increase ties to the West and economic development.

Kirk said the de facto prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, would like to move forward with early elections and that Jibril predicted the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies would capture only 10 to 15 percent of the vote, with the vast majority of people favoring mainline candidates.

Kirk also said he was encouraged that one of Tripoli’s main jails, now run by the political prisoners it once housed, was open to daily visits by representatives of Human Rights Watch. Kirk departs for home from Malta on Friday, said Kate Dickens, his spokeswoman.